The Dalmore Ensemble Collection used to be the travel retail offering from Dalmore distillery. It consisted of The Trio, The Quartet and The Quintet. Inspired by musical works of art, they ‘composed’ whiskies finished in 3, 4 or 5 cask types.
Today we’re having Dalmore The Quartet. This consists of first-fill bourbon casks, Apostoles Palo Cortado and Matusalem Oloroso casks (both from Bodegas González Byass) and Cabernet Sauvignon wine casks.
Dalmore The Quartet (41,5%, OB 2020, travel retail)
Nose: a mix of vanilla, roasted coffee beans and red grapes. Also plums and raisins, with dark chocolate and hints of black peppercorns. Fairly rich toffee and hazelnuts. A subtle hint of oak polish and fragrant raspberry too. Quite wide and balanced.
Mouth: a nice sherry influence albeit with a sharper, slightly tannic red wine edge. Raisins, a lot of liquorice and pepper. Tangy ginger and clove. Gingerbread and wine soaked pears too. Then dark chocolate and orange peels, plus some red fruit jam.
Finish: quite long, really spicy, with more of the wine tannins and orange peels, with darker chocolate in the very end.
Fairly complex and reasonably rich despite the low ABV. On the other hand it is brought down a little by the Cabernet wine influence which adds some wine tannins. Overall a solid Dalmore. While officially a travel retail exclusive and officially phased out, it is still available from Master of Malt or samples via Whiskysite.nl.